Batt-Doyle Wins Pac-12 10k Title In Wee Hours

Saturday, May 11

Tucson, AZ

5:00 PM

University of Washington

Pac-12 Championships

May 12, 2019 | Track & Field

By: UW Athletic Communications

2019 Pac-12 Track & Field Championships
Saturday-Sunday, May 11-12
Tucson, Ariz. | Roy P. Drachman Stadium

Live Results | Revised Sunday Schedule | Sunday Heat Sheets

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TUCSON, Ariz. – In a 25-lap race that began after midnight, Husky senior Izzi Batt-Doyle put the rest of the field to bed with a late push to claim the Pac-12 title at 10,000-meters and cap off a very long but very strong day for Washington at the Pac-12 Track & Field Championships. Along with Batt-Doyle's first title, the Huskies got runner-up finishes from Denham Patricelli in the javelin and Emily Hamlin in the steeplechase.

The championships, hosted by Arizona at Roy P. Drachman Stadium, were halted for over three hours this evening by a thunderstorm that wreaked havoc on the day's schedule. Competition finally resumed at 10:45 p.m. and did not finish until nearly 1 a.m. Pacific time.

Even still, several events will now have to be run as timed finals on Sunday, and a few field events were not able to start or finish on Saturday and were moved. Sunday still begins with field events at 11 a.m. but the running events now start at 5:30 p.m. and the Pac-12 Network TV window will move up to cover the start.

Batt-Doyle's win and 10 points gave the Husky women's team 36 points at the end of day one to sit in second-place. It's already more than the UW women scored at the entire 2018 championships, with just four of 21 events scored. The men are fourth with seven of the 21 events scored, with 35 points, just seven points shy of surpassing the team's 2018 total.

In the 10k final, Batt-Doyle ran behind a trio of Colorado athletes for much of the race but moved to the lead with about 3k to go. She increased her pace over the last couple laps and went into the bell lap with a four second lead. The school-record-holder in the 10k came to the finish in 33:31.30, winning by five seconds.

It's the sixth Pac-12 10k title for the Washington women, their most in any event. Junior Kaitlyn Neal was also ninth in the 10k in 35:01.60 and Hannah Waskom was 11th in her first 10k in 35:24.21.

Also wrapping up after midnight was the men's 10,000-meters, which saw redshirt freshman Tibebu Proctor score his first Pac-12 points with a fourth-place finish in 29:24.63. Junior Tanner Anderson also made his outdoor season debut in the 10k and he added a point in eighth in 29:41.04.

Senior Emily Hamlin gets her first trip up to the Pac-12 podium in her final conference meet!! She adds a big 8?-spot for the Dawgs with her ??#GoHuskies // #Pac12TF pic.twitter.com/UmMhFBZzP7
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) May 12, 2019

The steeplechase finals saw the Huskies rack up the most combined points in the event. Hamlin reached the Pac-12 podium for the first time in her senior season, as she came in second to Colorado's Val Constien, running 10:08.09, eight seconds clear of third-place. It's the best finish in the steeplechase by a Husky since 2013 when Mel Lawrence finished second. But the big surprise was redshirt freshman Shona McCulloch, who came in seeded 10th but asserted herself up at the front and came up with an outstanding fifth-place finish in an 18-second personal-best of 10:23.02. That time puts McCulloch at No. 7 in school history and should earn her a trip to West Prelims as well.

The men's steeple saw three Dawgs working together up front for much of the race, as Julius Diehr, Alex Slenning, and Nick Laccinole all were eyeing point position. Diehr and Slenning would come in fourth and fifth, respectively, in 8:58.39 and 9:06.95. Laccinole added two more points in seventh-place as the Huskies came away with 11 points from the event.

The first Husky up today proved to have one of the most thrilling competitions, as senior Denham Patricelli traded the lead late in the men's javelin throw before getting edged out for the title on the final throw of the competition. Patricelli, a Maple Valley, Wash. native, was in second-place until the fifth round, when he launched a new career-best of 239-feet, 4-inches to take over the lead. When it came back around to Patricelli for the sixth and final attempt, he went even farther, going 241-6. But the next and last attempt came from UCLA's Simon Litzell, the defending champion, and he was able to answer with a best of 243-6 to get the win.

Patricelli still made the podium for the first time in his career with the second-place finish, and he also climbed all the way up to No. 5 in UW school history. The mark also puts him up to eighth in the NCAA this year.

A tremendous final Pac-12s for senior Denham Patricelli!! He PRs twice and climbs to #?5? in school history and finishes a career best 2nd to earn 8? big points for the Dawgs! ????#GoHuskies // #Pac12TF pic.twitter.com/ivgDxaWNxg
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) May 12, 2019

Also in the javelin, sophomore Jacob Wachtendonk just missed the final by one spot, as he was 10th with a best of 195-10.

The women's javelin was held until after the storm but senior Katherine Taylor had a quick lightning strike on her first attempt to produce a fifth-place finish that would have been nearly unthinkable just two weeks ago. Two weeks back, Taylor's PR of 140-11 had her off the Pac-12 travel roster, but at the Ken Shannon Invitational, in what could have been her final collegiate meet, she threw a ten-foot PR to 150-11 and got another chance to compete.

Still even with the 10-foot PR Taylor came in ranked 16th in the field. But on her first attempt, she got another five-foot career-best, throwing 155-4. Proving that was no fluke, she nearly matched it on her second, going 155-3. Taylor would not improve on those two tosses, but the mark held up for fifth-place overall, as she was the only thrower from flight one to score points. It's the best finish by a Husky in the women's javelin since 2012 and Taylor moved to No. 6 in school history and likely secured yet another meet as she should make the NCAA Prelims cut.

Earlier in the day, the men's shot put produced some points for the Dawgs. Sophomore Jonah Wilson got a best toss of 62-5 3/4 to take fifth in a loaded field and notch four team points. Junior Jose Padilla also made the final with an outdoor PR of 57-4 3/4 but finished ninth to just miss out on points. Both will also throw discus on Sunday.

Senior Sam Richmond, in his first and only Pac-12 Championship, posted one valuable point in the long jump. Richmond came in seeded 13th overall, but wound up in eighth-place with a career-best mark of 24-feet, 3-inches. The field had to come back several hours after their first three jumps for the final three attempts after the storm delay, and not one single athlete posted a better mark in the final, but Richmond's PR and point still felt great.

Before the storms hit, the Huskies sent seven individuals through to Sunday finals along with the women's 4x100m relay, which advanced in a time of 46.23.

The 1,500-meters went flawlessly for the Dawgs as they went 5-for-5 in qualifiers between the men's and women's races.

On the men's side, Mick Stanovsek got the win in the first prelim in a time of 3:49.35 and redshirt freshman Isaac Green moved through to the final in his Pac-12 debut as he was fifth in the first prelim in 3:51.74.

In the women's 1,500m, three Huskies were all in the second heat. Katie Rainsberger came up with the heat win in a season-best 4:19.92. Sophomore Allie Schadler was fourth to auto qualify in 4:20.67, and senior Anna Maxwell got one of the time qualifiers as she ran 4:23.24.

Next up was Pac-12 Heptathlon Champion Hannah Rusnak, back in Tucson for the second straight week, running the open 100-meter hurdles. Rusnak would run another PR in the event, clocking 13.59 seconds to qualify for Sunday's final and earn a chance to add to the 10 points she posted last weekend. Rusnak's time also moved her up another spot on the Husky top-10 list to No. 4.

In the men's 400-meters, sophomore Evan Mafilas made his first Pac-12 final as he got the final time qualifier with a time of 47.18 seconds. Junior Jason Palmer broke 48-seconds for the first time, clocking a 47.77, to finish 12th overall.

Senior Imani Apostol raced her final individual outdoor race in the women's 400-meters, as she finished a career-best 11th with a time of 55.31 seconds. Apostol will be back in the relay finals on Sunday hoping to help the Huskies punch a West Prelims ticket.

In the men's 100-meter prelims, junior Khalil Winfrey ran a wind-legal career-best time of 10.52 seconds to finish 14th overall but just .08 seconds out of eighth in a very deep field. Senior Jordan Lucas was just off his PR with a 10.58 time to finish 17th overall. Sophomore Olivia Ribera would take 20th overall in a time of 12.10.